Everybody has a bio written in the third person, right?

Amanda graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris in 2009 after obtaining majors in Political Science and Sociology. It wasn’t long after that she realized she could use her time and talents gained from working on local political campaigns from the age of ten to improve the online communities of her first love, games. To that end, she’s taken part in online charity marathons for her favorite causes and is on a quest to work among those she’s admired for so long, helping to bring their projects to a bigger audience.

Now, she resides in Grand Forks, North Dakota with her husband Adam, son William, and Boykin Spaniel mix Arya Bark.

Eleven years in retail gave her a keen interest in Social Media, Communications and Public Relations, which led her to enroll at the University of North Dakota in 2021. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in the Spring of 2023 with a degree in Communications with many certificates including Social Media Strategies, Digital Media Production, Sports Communication and News Production.

In her spare time, she’s hanging out with family and friends, trying to play all the indie games, drinking copious amounts of coffee, perfecting and missing her home state of Minnesota.

That’s the professional bio. Now, let’s get totally random.

Virtual and fantasy worlds shaped a huge part of my childhood, from the moment I picked up a Nintendo zapper for the first time, or the first time I heard the Star Wars theme. In a way, it was Duck Hunt I have to thank for my competitive streak; that is, I hated it when the dog would laugh at you. I made it my quest to be able to finish the game, but unfortunately, I was never able to, as my older brother would break our Nintendo, and we wouldn’t have another console in the house for some years. That’s not to say I didn’t play anything for years. My first introduction to Lara Croft was on the PlayStation of my best friend’s older brother, during the first sleepover I was ever allowed to go to. I didn’t sleep that whole night, as I wanted to get as far as I could because I didn’t know if I’d be able to play it again. Her brother though, totally did me a solid and actually let me keep the memory card with my save on it.

I grew up in a science-fiction loving house, the worlds of Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate being showcased on any particular day, and shaped my formidable years as much as any real person. A lot of people saw that as weird, that I would seek to identify with a Starship Captain (Katheryn Janeway) or a Air Force Theoretical Physicist (Samantha Carter), but these were strong, fierce, independent women surviving and thriving. Who wouldn’t want to identify with that?

Gaming returned to my life when I went to college, as I finally had Internet, my own computer, and a job. I used my meager work-study job to pay for consoles and as many games as I could afford, and spent hundreds of hours falling in love with games like Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars Battlefront the Uncharted series (which still holds a special place in my heart), and getting back in touch with Tomb Raider. These days, I can give most anything a try (perk of my job), but action/adventure games, shooters, and episodic titles are my bread and butter.

Now, I have a husband who is just as big of a nerd as I am, an adorable Boykin Spaniel/Corgi/Blue Heeler mix named Arya, and, as of December 2018, a geek-in-training named William. Adam plays what I don’t; he’ll spend hours upon hours playing Starcraft and Dota, and surfing around for the latest, coolest mod for Skyrim. We’ll play games like Borderlands until the wee hours, sometimes causing our dog to question our sanity, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Will seems to be a Minecraft fan, but, as Minecraft fans ourselves, we’re okay with it. (And he seems to be a fan of Achievement Hunter!)

Anything else? I love Legos and have an addiction to collecting Pop! figures. I love playing games and hanging out with people who play games.